Monthly Archives: June 2006

Over the past three weeks we have run thirteen installments of our “Who is Keith Ellison?” series regarding the endorsed Democratic candidate for Minnesota’s Fifth District (Minneapolis) congressional seat. The series is based both on original reporting and on information compiled from the public record. While the Minneapolis Star Tribune sat on its hands, out-of-towners took a look at what is by any reasonable standard an interesting story. Yesterday the »

On Monday night I quickly wrote up my account of the telephone interview that afternoon with United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton in “My favorite ambassador.” I was a little diffident about sharing my enthusiasm for Ambassador Bolton so bluntly, but I obviously overcame my reluctance. Also on the call with me were Jay Nordlinger of National Review, Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics and Pamela of Atlas Shrugs. »

At this hour, Israeli Defense Forces have entered into Gaza in search of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Islamic terrorists who sneaked through a tunnel and murdered two IDF soldiers and wounded and made off with Cpl. Shalit. Meanwhile, a second Israeli, 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, has also been kidnapped by Islamic terrorists, and authorities are trying to discern whether an unrecognizable corpse may be Mr. Asheri. We wish »

Actually, it’s not clear that many people in this country are watching the World Cup, especially now that the U.S. has been eliminated. But Dafydd ab Hugh is watching, and he sent me these comments (which I’ve edited slightly) on the Italy-Australia match: Let’s start with the absolute fact that I know very little about soccer, World Cup or otherwise. I am not an authority; I watch during the Olympics »

UPI reports that Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, hasn’t done so well after a promising start: Former U.S. vice-President Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has seen its ticket sales plummet after a promising start. After Gore’s global warming documentary garnered the highest average per play ever for a film documentary during its limited Memorial Day weekend opening, recent theater takes for the film have been less than stellar, »

Scott was on Minnesota Public Radio today, doing his best to inform that network’s generally liberal listeners on the legal issues surrounding the New York Times’ anti-anti-terrorism leaks. The listeners were mostly enraged, as were posters on Democratic Underground. We can only hope that somewhere, there were MPR listeners who appreciated the opportunity to hear someone who actually knew what he was talking about. You can listen to the program »

Today, Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, asking him to investigate and report on the damage done by the media’s “unauthorized disclosure of some of our most sensitive intelligence programs.” Roberts authorizes a broad inquiry, but directs Negroponte to report particularly on leaks regarding the Terrorist Surveillance Program and the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program. Click the image below to »

John McIntyre notes that the New York Times seems to have badly miscalculated the political consequences of blowing yet another anti-terror program: Politically, this is a clear winner for Bush and the GOP. The issue plays to Bush’s strengths and continues to paint the picture of the President as a stalwart fighter, protecting America’s safety while the left-wing press does their best to undermine as many successful anti-terror programs as »

Roll Call eats the Star Tribune’s lunch in its story on Minnesota’s Fifth District (Minneapolis) congressional race today. Here are excerpts of Dan Rasmussen’s story: A few weeks ago, Minnesota state Rep. Keith Ellison’s (D) prospects of becoming the first Muslim ever to serve in Congress looked strong. As he moved toward the Sept. 12 Democratic primary, Ellison had garnered high-profile endorsements from the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party as well as »

Over the past three weeks we have run thirteen installments of our “Who is Keith Ellison?” series regarding the endorsed Democratic candidate for Minnesota’s Fifth District (Minneapolis) congressional seat. The series is based both on original reporting and on information compiled from the public record, virtually none of which has seen the light of day in Minnesota’s newspaper of record since Ellison’s endorsement. While the Minneapolis Star Tribune sits on »

Reader Douglas Rose has drawn our attention to this September 24, 2001 New York Times editorial (“Finances of Terror”) (access limited to TimesSelect): Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. The cost of these plots suggests that putting Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists out of business will require more than diplomatic coalitions and military »

Reader Henry David copied us on his over-the-top letter of thanks to the New York Times for blowing the terrorist finance tracking system: Dear Mr. Keller: I want to thank you personally for breaking the story on the government illegally using the SWIFT system to track money. This administration is always breaking the law. They all belong behind bars. Just remember, it’s your duty to make sure they’re kicked out »

The Washington Post touts a new study that purports to debunk the notion that a “boy crisis” exists in the U.S. According to the Post’s account of the study, over the past three decades boys’ test scores are “mostly up” (whatever that means) and more boys are getting to college and getting bachelor’s degrees. The study claims, in the Post’s words, that “much of the pessimism about young males derives »

Michelle Malkin did a post today on the presumption of innocence as it relates to the Camp Pendleton 8. Michelle concludes: Contrary to the moonbat Left, “innocent until proven guilty” applies to our troops, too. Of course, our troops don’t always get that presumption, as Thomas Smith points out: Haditha has been transformed into an issue of political opportunity for the cut-and-run crowd, including Congressman John Murtha (D, PA.) who »

Outgoing Treasury Secretary John Snow has written to Bill Keller at the New York Times about terror finance surveillance, and the decision of the Times to inform terrorists about that surveillance. Here is what Snow wrote: Dear Mr. Keller: The New York Times’ decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful »

United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton made himself available for a thirty-minute on the record telephone interview with us this afternoon, together with Jay Nordlinger of National Review, Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics, and Pamela of Atlas Shrugs. Ambassador Bolton is the most straightforward and plainspoken diplomat I have ever heard. He is a great advocate of America’s cause. Any lack of clarity in the summary below is »

Lt. Tom Cotton writes this morning from Baghdad with a word for the New York Times: Dear Messrs. Keller, Lichtblau & Risen: Congratulations on disclosing our government’s highly classified anti-terrorist-financing program (June 23). I apologize for not writing sooner. But I am a lieutenant in the United States Army and I spent the last four days patrolling one of the more dangerous areas in Iraq. (Alas, operational security and common »